Elijah Cummings Had Hillary Clinton’s Back — And Threw GOP Benghazi Committee Members For A Loop

The person who came out swinging was Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). The board member made it absolutely clear that he was fed up with the partisan attacks by the committee’s GOP members. Cummings gave a rather scathing critique of their behavior during his must-watch opening statement.

It was interesting watching the fiery condemnation of Cummings and then listening to the quietly dignified and mildly chastising manner in which Hillary Clinton spoke during her opening statement. It should have signaled a major “red flag” warning that the GOP members of the House committee had miscalculated. Of course, they didn’t see it. All they saw was a chance to put on a show for their most loyal constituents by attempting to tar and feather Clinton on national television.

Immediately after both Cummings and Clinton warned the GOP about their failure to honor the Americans killed in Benghazi, and the partisan nature of their attacks…the Republicans went on a wholly partisan attack.

Rep. Peter Roskam somehow thought he was affirming the legitimacy of the Benghazi Committee when he decided to end his questioning by outright blaming Hillary Clinton for the Benghazi attack. This after Clinton had to remind him that she was the Secretary of State and what her actual job was.

Not to be outdone, he was followed by Rep. Susan Brooks (R-Ind.) who whipped out not one, but TWO stacks of emails. Ah, yes, the emails! It’s amazing how Brooks was so caught up in her “got her now!” visuals that she didn’t realize just how foolish she looked.

Remember that opening statement by Cummings?

“Yes, we have received some new emails from Secretary Clinton, Ambassador Stevens, and others. And yes, we have conducted some new interviews. But these documents and interviews do not show any nefarious activity. In fact, it’s just the opposite.”

“The new information confirms and corroborates the core facts we already knew from eight previous investigations.”

Brooks could have just left the pile under the table, but she’d had her shining moment all planned, and it was clear she wasn’t about to waste it. Instead of beating Clinton over the head with the mere existence of the emails…She decided to insinuate that because one pile was bigger than the other, Hillary didn’t care about Benghazi.

Things came to a head later on when Rep. Cummings suggest that committee declassify key testimony transcripts as they would prove “the whole truth and nothing but the truth” about Hillary Clinton’s work with advisor Sydney Blumenthal and their email exchanges. Instead of continuing to suggest that the connection was suspicious and that it proved that Hillary Clinton somehow acted inappropriately, why not put their money where their mouth was and make the documents a matter of public record?

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Despite the obviousness that the GOP didn’t have a leg to stand on by now, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) stuttered through a face-saving attempt. The Benghazi Committee chairman immediately claimed the testimony and documents they want Americans to know prove Hillary Clinton is a war criminal should NOT be released to Americans…because of reasons.

At the end of this first round, it was Elijah Cummings and Hillary Clinton who came up smelling like roses. The GOP committee members came up smelling like something far less pleasant.

It’s hard to believe that the contrast would have been as ably pulled off by Hillary had it not been for the very verbal and fearless approach taken by Elijah. The GOP somehow told itself that affirming every negative thing said about the Republican board members prior to today would pay off. Instead, the members managed to make themselves look terrible. It won’t get any better either.

The only hope that the Gowdy and the others have of saving face at this point is to do what they were supposed to do in the first place: Disband.

There’s no point in moving forward and taking the spotlight off Clinton. There’s been several investigations and the Committee, as Elijah Cummings pointed out, will only be able to ask questions to which they knew the answers three years ago.

Toni Matthews is a writer who often blends unapologetic bluntness with playful humor. If you are willfully ignorant of matters that affect disenfranchised citizens while often declaring yourself a good and proud American, she WILL hurt your feelings.